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I am not a big fan of Rampardos really, or aleast in the anime I dunno it's something with the eyes being red, I can't really explain it (I have no problem with some who has red eyes) but anyways it's still a good battle, glad Ash got his first badge in Sinnoh.

Claims Amber Benson as Bishie
United we stand but separated we fall
As of April 18th, 2015, I met, hugged, took a selfie and a video with Amber Benson. This signature stands to the days where I wished for it, and that dream became reality.

Well, continuing on with the reviews (these are kind of fun, if only b/c probably no more than 3 people are ever going to read them).

This episode is Ash's rematch with Roark, and the debut of Ash's use of Dawn's spinning technique that he pulls out pretty often in Sinnoh. Once again, the best battle here for me is Pikachu vs. Onix, as it definitely feels a bit personal (I think like Pikachu vs Vigoroth back in Hoenn). But Roark is no pushover, and even with Ash using the spinning technique, he and Pikachu are taken by surprise by Onix's speed, and Pikachu is blasted into a rock. Rather than go on the offensive, Roark orders stealth rock, and this turns out to be the turning point in the match as Pikachu lets loose a thunderbolt, destroying the stealth rock before it can come into play and also stunning Onix (be lenient, it's pretty cool). Pikachu then finishes Onix off with an Iron Tail-winning bonus points with Buneary, too. Ha ha. But enjoy this match if you're a Pikachu fan, b/c it's the electric mouse's finest heroic moment in a gym battle until the last gym (and this one here vs Onix is definitely more dramatic).

That's the turning pt in the gym battle, and you never feel like Ash is going to lose after that. I want to point out that this ends a very difficult period for Ash in terms of important matches. Going back to the battle frontier, Ash needed 2 tries to beat Anabel, 3 to beat Brandon (having to pull out all the stops here), was humiliated by Gary, split with Paul, then had a loss to Paul, and finished it off with a tough defeat to Roark. Things really haven't gone that well for our hero, but you have to hand it to him for not getting too down on himself and being able to keep moving forward. He rides along pretty well for the rest of Sinnoh up until his full battle with Paul (even then, it's not much of a confidence crisis for Ash, although Dawn thinks it is and tries to cheer him up). There are things for him to figure out, particularly Fantina, but I always believed he was going to do it. He probably always believed he was going to come through, as well. It's interesting to note this, b/c Dawn has her own tough streak coming up soon, and one thing I'm supposedly doing in these reviews is pointing out the balance the writers have tried to use in making Dawn like Ash vs. her as a starting coordinator.

All right, a few comments on Ash's battling style. This time around, he gets more praise from Dawn, who's impressed at Ash's modifications to her spinning move during the battle (Roark catches on to the original move and starts making adjustments/assumptions, which Ash is able to use to his advantage a few times- the last of which allows Turtwig to land a powerful razor leaf on a leaping Rampardos to win the match).
Also want to mention Ash's decision to order Turtwig to use Razor Leaf on Rampardos as it uses Head Smash, which turns out to be a complete mistake as Head Smash protects Rampardos until it lands a quite brutal hit on Turtwig. It's a bit of reckless move, but it fits right in with Ash's character as well, and I think it's a great way of showing Ash's thinking process as he's trying to figure out how to connect with Razor Leaf through Rampardos's flamethrower defense.

One other small note is that this episode tries out a gag with Croagunk wandering off and stopping Team Rocket inside the gym. I think it's used one other time, but, anyway, it doesn't become a staple.

Ash gets his first gym badge. Yay. Pikachu gets its revenge on Onix, just like at the Pewter Gym. Yay. Croagunk was amazingly funny in this episode. YAY!
The gym battle was fairly interesting, but a little boring after watching Paul's gym battle and Ash's first gym battle. Especially considering the only suprising thing about the match was the spin technique, which was showcased in the last episode.
I found it rather funny how Roark was suprised that more than one member of Ash's team knew the spin technique. But that was nowhere near as funny as Croagunk in this episode. It sensing Team Rocket was actuallya hint to it's Anticipation ability, which is pretty interesting.
Well, it took Ash long enough but he finally got his first gym badge.

I've been catching on that Ash for some reason does BETTER without Shinji around, since when he is around, it causes him to lose focus. But thats just me, I don't know about the rest of yas.

I think he does better when Paul's not watching, too. With Paul not around, he becomes less nervous and is able to concentrate more on the battle at hand, and concentrate less on the "I'll show you who's pathetic!" aspect.

So, Ash wins his first Sinnoh gym badge. Good for him!

I was never that crazy about Rampardos until I saw this episode. Now it's actually not a bad Pokemon. *wishes he had one in his Platinum team*

What's with some rock gym leaders always having one of the their Pokemon as Onix, anyway? Not that that's a bad a thing. Just wondering... I forget, Did Roxanne have one?

This episode was very cool. It was great that all 3 of Ash's Gym Battle Pokemon got to defeat each of Roark's Pokemon. The spinning moves by Ash's Pokemon worked really well. It was cool that even after Pikachu took a wicked hit, was able to use Thunder to break free of the rocks and break up Stealth Rock. Very fitting that Iron Tail on Onix's head finished it off. Aipom's Focus Punch attack was cleverly used to knock out Geodude. Having Turtwig run and using Razor Leaf then spinning underneath Rampardos to finish it off with Razor Leaf attack was a great strategy.

This gym battle was great, one of my favorite DP gym battles. I love how Ash used Dawn's spinning move in this battle, it really made the battle more interesting, especially with the last part with Turtwig's spin. I also thought that Dawn cheerleading for Ash was pretty funny.
10/10

Pikachu using that spin strategy that it stole learned from Dawn to finally bring down Roark's Onix after flopping last time made me cheer. I liked seeing Aipom using Double Team against Geodude and that Turtwig got to slay Roark's Rampardos at the end. Also, seeing Croagunk confront Team Rocket and stop them from causing trouble was great.

Dawn, Piplup and Buneary cheerleading for Ash was so cute. :3 I thought Pikachu finally winning against Roark's Onix was cool and Rampardos vs Turtwig was intense too. Seeing Ash finally get the Coal badge was a relief.

Been rewatching DP cause why not? Anyway definitely the best first gym battle in the series. Not only was the battle itself epic with great strategies on both sides, but it also gave some good character development to Ash. Also props to Ash for using Dawn'a contest techniques, it really shows that the two go hand in hand and is a great tactic to use.

I think this Gym battle was a little too difficult for Ash. He was just starting out in Sinnoh and Roark has a strong offensive type like Rampardos. Ash won of course, but it was too intense for a first gym battle so I wasn't a fan.

Hikari, Mimirol, and Pochama dressed up as cheerleaders was adorable, and I was impressed with Satoshi's rematch against Hyouta. Pikachu finally got the upper hand on Hyouta's Iwark, and Rampard really showed its power when it defeated both Eipam and Pikachu. I was pleased with Naetle's win, as well as with the way Gureggru scared the Rocket-dan.